Biomarkers of low-level mercury exposure through fish consumption in pregnant and lactating Slovenian women

Miklavčič, Ana; Cuderman, Petra; Mazej, Darja; Tratnik, Janja Snoj; Krsnik, Mladen; Planinšek, Petra; Osredkar, Joško; Horvat, Milena

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2011.07.006

Cited by 65 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Higher cadmium levels were observed in the children who had higher levels of urinary creatinine, although the creatinine levels were within the range recommended by WHO (1996). It may not be appropriate to draw conclusions from this because of the small study number, but it has previously been identified that creatinine adjustment is not always the most (Miklavčič et al 2011) GM geometric mean, P75 75th percentile, P90 90th percentile, P95 95th percentile, min minimum, max maximum appropriate method for cadmium analysis (Barr et al 2005;Pirard et al 2014). The levels of urinary cadmium in the mothers were low and comparable (within 1 μg/L) with the population-based reference values from a UK study (Bevan et al 2013), the Flemish human biomonitoring program (Milieu Gezondheid 2010) and the US NHANES study (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2014, and the German Environmental Survey value for non-smoking adults shown in Table 4.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot study testing a European human biomonitoring framework for biomarkers of chemical exposure in children and their mothers: experiences in the UK

Exley

Aerts

Biot

et al. 2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Exposure to a number of environmental chemicals in UK mothers and children has been assessed as part of the European biomonitoring pilot study, Demonstration of a Study to Coordinate and Perform Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale (DEMOCOPHES). For the Europeanfunded project, 17 countries tested the biomonitoring guidelines and protocols developed by COPHES. The results from the pilot study in the UK are presented; 21 school children aged 6-11 years old and their mothers provided hair samples to measure mercury and urine samples, to measure cadmium, cotinine and several phthalate metabolites: mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl)phthalate (5OH-MEHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxoh e x y l ) p h t h a l a t e ( 5 o x o -M E H P ) a n d m o n o ( 2 -ethylhexyl)phthalate (MEHP), mono-ethyl phthalate (MEP), mono-iso-butyl phthalate (MiBP), mono-benzyl phthalate (MBzP) and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP). Questionnaire data was collected on environment, health and lifestyle. Mercury in hair was higher in children who reported frequent consumption of fish (geometric mean 0.35 μg/g) compared to those that ate fish less frequently (0.13 μg/g, p=0.002).Cadmium accumulates with age as demonstrated by higher levels of urinary cadmium in the mothers (geometric mean 0.24 μg/L) than in the children(0.14 μg/L). None of the mothers reported being regular smokers, and this was evident with extremely low levels of cotinine measured (maximum value 3.6 μg/L in mothers, 2.4 μg/L in children). Very low levels of the phthalate metabolites were also measured in both mothers and children (geometric means in mothers: 5OH-Responsible editor:

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot study testing a European human biomonitoring framework for biomarkers of chemical exposure in children and their mothers: experiences in the UK

Exley

Aerts

Biot

et al. 2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…In human milk, a mean of 26 -63 % of total mercury was found to be methylmercury, however the proportion can rise with increased methylmercury intake (Miklavčič et al, 2011b), see also Section 4.4. Moreover, methylmercury is able to cross the hair follicle, the placenta and the blood-brain barrier, allowing accumulation in hair, the fetus and the brain.…”

Section: Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The third study analysed total mercury in human milk from Italian, Croatian and Greek women and compared the data on human milk with a subset of the results reported by Miklavčič et al (2011b). When the total mercury concentration in the mother's hair was at least 1.0 mg/kg, methylmercury was analysed as well.…”

Section: Miklavčičmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientific Opinion on the risk for public health related to the presence of mercury and methylmercury in food

2012

EFS2

465

160

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EFSA was asked by the European Commission to consider new developments regarding inorganic mercury and methylmercury toxicity and evaluate whether the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) provisional tolerable weekly intakes for methylmercury of 1.6 µg/kg body weight (b.w.) and of 4 µg/kg b.w. for inorganic mercury were still appropriate. In line with JECFA, the CONTAM Panel established a tolerable weekly intake (TWI) for inorganic mercury of 4 µg/kg b.w., expressed as mercury. For methylmercury, new developments in epidemiological studies from the Seychelles Child Developmental Study Nutrition Cohort have indicated that n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish may counteract negative effects from methylmercury exposure. Together with the information that beneficial nutrients in fish may have confounded previous adverse outcomes in child cohort studies from the Faroe Islands, the Panel established a TWI for methylmercury of 1.3 µg/kg b.w., expressed as mercury. The mean dietary exposure across age groups does not exceed the TWI for methylmercury, with the exception of toddlers and other children in some surveys. The 95 th percentile dietary exposure is close to or above the TWI for all age groups. High fish consumers, which might include pregnant women, may exceed the TWI by up to approximately six-fold. Unborn children constitute the most vulnerable group. Biomonitoring data from blood and hair indicate that methylmercury exposure is generally below the TWI in Europe, but higher levels are also observed. Exposure to methylmercury above the TWI is of concern. If measures to reduce methylmercury exposure are considered, the potential beneficial effects of fish consumption should also be taken into account. Dietary inorganic mercury exposure in Europe does not exceed the TWI, but inhalation exposure of elemental mercury from dental amalgam is likely to increase the internal inorganic mercury exposure; thus the TWI might be exceeded. This opinion focuses only on the risks related to dietary inorganic mercury and methylmercury exposure and does not assess the nutritional benefits linked to certain foods (e.g. fish and other seafood).A call for annual collection of chemical contaminant occurrence data in food and feed, including mercury, was issued by EFSA in December 2010. In response, EFSA received 59 820 results on mercury in food from 20 European countries, mainly covering the period from 2004 to 2011. A total number of 59 650 results were described with sufficient detail to be used in the statistical analysis of the respective food groups; 98.2 % of the samples were for total mercury, 1.8 % for methylmercury and three samples for inorganic mercury.All the 20 food groups available at the first level of FoodEx were covered in the current data collection. The food groups 'Fish and other seafood' and 'Meat and meat products' dominated the food product coverage with 36.8 % and 17.6 % respectively. These were followed by 'Grain and grain-based products' at 7.8 % and 'Vegetables an...

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“…Although it is correlated with maternal hair, cord blood mercury may better refl ect fetal exposure than maternal hair (Karagas et al 2012 ). Mercury is excreted in breast milk, but it is not typically used as a matrix for assessing exposure, primarily because of low concentrations and variability in the proportion present as MeHg (García-Esquinas et al 2011 ;Miklavcic et al 2011 ). Tissues such as umbilical cord, meconium, placenta, and nail tissue are potentially useful matrixes for assessing mercury exposure, but have not been used widely in epidemiologic studies (Karagas et al 2012 ).…”

Section: Biomarkers Of Mercury Exposurementioning

confidence: 99%

Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium, Mercury: Occurrence, Toxicity and Diseases

Abarikwu

2013

Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World

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Biomarkers of low-level mercury exposure through fish consumption in pregnant and lactating Slovenian women

Cited by 65 publications

References 13 publications

Pilot study testing a European human biomonitoring framework for biomarkers of chemical exposure in children and their mothers: experiences in the UK

Pilot study testing a European human biomonitoring framework for biomarkers of chemical exposure in children and their mothers: experiences in the UK

Scientific Opinion on the risk for public health related to the presence of mercury and methylmercury in food

Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium, Mercury: Occurrence, Toxicity and Diseases

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